Sun + Mud

Woo, the sun is out! But the ground is soaking from days of heavy rain.

I rode out to Ocean Terminal, riding through many many big muddy puddles by the side of the Water of Leith. My focus for the day was transitioning from riding to hopping and back – I can now do it almost without thinking. I messed about in the quiet carparks on the outskirts of Ocean Terminal – riding off kerbs, hopping up/down, standstills and 180 hop jumps.

I received two separate rounds of spontaneous applause from people walking nearby. And I had two seperate long chats with random folk – people are friendly and it’s easy to chat about uni for a while .. and usually I appreciate the resting time as well as the banter. I met a young guy who said he got a uni a few months ago – cool! And I overtook a jogger for the first time (heh).

I’ve established that the best way to mount the muni is to mount into a hop, get settled, then ride away. It works on all sorts of ground, and gives me a chance to reposition my feet properly on the spiky pedals before moving off. My balance-hops are getting smaller, more controlled and require less energy. I feel that I can correct balance by pushing outwards on the pedals a bit, rather than having to do a full hop. I managed some 180-hops off kerbs today, and tried hard to stay on the uni when things got wobbly by hopping rather than stepping off. I also nearly made it up the steep, steep hill after the railway bridge – I got all the way up to the sharp right-hander and bottled it.